Marvelous Spatuletail

Loddigesia mirabilis (Bourcier, 1847)

Marvelous Spatuletail, Loddigesia mirabilis, is a hummingbird found in northern Peru in the Andes. It is restricted to a small part of that region, with most records from the Utcubamba River valley in Amazonas Department and a few from San Martín. It lives along forest edges, in secondary forest and in montane scrub, and it also uses thickets of thorny Rubus with alder. The male is notable for two outer tail feathers with bare shafts that cross and finish in large purplish black spatules. It stays in the same area throughout the year.

Order

Apodiformes

Family

Trochilidae — Hummingbirds

Breeding range

South America: n Peru